The Social Nerdia Show! Episode #11 is now available for streaming below, on blogtalkradio, or as a podcast on iTunes.

In this episode, @jestebanc, @somerlea, and @jonsterp talk about recent Tech News (Microsoft + Yahoo! “partnership”, Blekko stealth search engine getting a 3rd round of financing, Blip.TV increasing its distribution, and the new Twitter homepage ), as well as some Not-So Tech / Pop Culture News (Wedding viral video, Visa’s crazy profits, Twilight characters getting swapped and what is supposed to be a kid-friendly Twilight MMO videogame).

We also wondered about why there are so many Fast & Furious movies (what’s up with that?) and upcoming movie releases coming out on August 7th: GI Joe, Julie & Julia, and most importantly.. Adam.

Finally, we talked about the Randomized Topic of the Day (Cash for Clunkers Program gets suspended). We chose the topic this time but we promise to talk about whatever YOU want to talk about next week. Just send us your thoughts to socialnerdia@gmail.com or leave us a voice message by calling 720-6NE-RDIA.

By now most people know that Microsoft has finally scored the deal it’s been wanting for quite a while. I’m guessing CEO Steve Ballmer still gets a little annoyed when thinking about all the trouble and time he wasted trying to get Yahoo! to give in. Then again, maybe things would’ve gone horribly wrong if Yahoo! had accepted what now sounds like a crazy initial offer.

The fact is that Yahoo! was so concerned with how much they could get out of Microsoft (or maybe how cool they would be by playing difficult) that they lost track of their purpose.

Yes, Yahoo!’s purpose in life was search. That’s how I know about them. That’s how you found out about them. Ok, to be fair, maybe some folks that still use Yahoo! Mail don’t realize this, but they probably only recently made the switch from AOL, so that doesn’t really count.

For most people on this Earth of ours, Yahoo! used to be a synonym for search engine.

Well, no longer. And with that, Yahoo! proves that they not only lost the #1 position many years ago, but that they also didn’t realize just how important search was. I mean, if they cared about search, they would’ve done something about it, right?

Wrong. Yahoo! was so concerned with becoming a portal, becoming the source for movie information (I admit it, Yahoo! movies is pretty good), capturing screenshots of Geocities and Flickr (instead of enhancing them), and wondering if red or purple is cuter, etc. that they totally forgot about the reason for their very existence. (more…)

The Social Nerdia Show! Episode #2 is now available for streaming on blogtalkradio (and at the bottom of this post) as well as a podcast on iTunes.

In this episode, @jestebanc and @somerlea talk about the latest Social Nerdia blog posts, recent Tech News (Facebook dethroning MySpace, Bing making gains, online video stats, and email marketing forecasts), and Not-So Tech / Pop Culture News (Letterman’s Palin comments, Kate Gosselin spanks her kids, CK inappropriateness, and an angry and perhaps lost in space Michael Jackson).

The show also delves into the awesomness of free cell phones, nasty female commercials, tweeting stalkers, turtles in the middle of the highway, @common_squirrel, “Captain Obvious” of the media, Hammer Time, grandmas on Facebook, upcoming movie releases, and the Randomized Topic of the Day (which was.. who would’ve guessed? Twitter!), sponsored by: “Spreadsheet“.

Thanks for tuning in!

There are several hints about Hulu streaming on the Xbox 360 (remember that Microsoft used the 2008 E3 to announce Netflix streaming) and this rumor is running on a few comments made by Microsoft itself.

Don Mattrick, Microsoft’s senior VP for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, made an interesting statement about the upcoming E3 in an ESA press release last month:

“Microsoft is gearing up for a big presence at E3 which will completely transform how people think about home entertainment. We’re excited about the momentum that is building in the industry in anticipation of our June 1st media briefing, which will kick off E3 in blockbuster style.”

Back in December, Microsoft’s Shane Kim told The New York Time’s Bits that the Xbox does not have an Internet browser as that would make them just another pipe delivering content in different ways, and that people watching video online are concentrating on sites like YouTube and Hulu. He also said:

“Netflix is the first major strategic partnership to open up the platform. We are just beginning to scratch the surface.”

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